Alabama

Mercury hot alt-J visits the Magic City

Fresh off of a 2012 Mercury Prize victory, awarded to the best album in the United Kingdom and Ireland, alt-J will make a stop at BottleTree Cafe in Birmingham on Friday, March 8. The band, whose name is derived for the Mac shortcut for the Greek letter "Delta," makes the stop before embarking on the summer festival circuit and a Fall tour which will see venues of 3,000.

I had a chance to speak to keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton about the band's rapid ascent, their stage show and winning the Mercury Prize.

Blake Ells for Birmingham Box Set: You'll play BottleTree in a couple of weeks, a venue that holds about 300, and return to the South in September to the Tabernacle, a venue which seats about 3,000. How did that ascent happen so quickly?

Gus Unger-Hamilton: I think we built the campaign in America from the Internet. The album was available online for months before it actually came out. It caught people's imagination and people liked that. Twenty percent of last was spent in America for us, and American fans seem to appreciate us touring their country.

BE: How does your largely electronic sound translate to stage?

GUH: It's difficult. We recorded the album and then we had to figure out how to do it all live. We have a rule that everything that is on the record must be played on the stage. It takes a lot of pedals to create the sound. It's a long process, and it's still a long process to create the sound of the album.

BE: You're playing one of the largest festivals in the States, Bonnaroo, this year. What have you been told to expect? How will it compare to something like Reading?

GUH: It's really interesting. I haven't an idea of what to expect. The weather will be better [laughs].

BE: It'll be hot. Pack accordingly.

GUH: Yes. It will be great to hang out with a lot of bands that we admire and respect and get to play with them.

BE: How does it feel to be included among The xx, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand and Portishead as a Mercury Prize winner? Those bands have had a lot of success stateside.

GUH: It's really cool. We're not just a band from university anymore. There was a point where we thought, "No one thinks we're a proper band. No one has told us to get out and play." But with that win, we're established as a band now. It's definitely a reassuring feeling.

BE: I thought of altering this question based on geography, but geography may make it more interesting: who are the top five American bands of all time?